Feb. 14, 2010

Box Score

PITTSBURGH, PA - Duquesne rallied from a 14-point first half deficit and controlled play in the second half to earn a 102-83 victory over La Salle on Sunday afternoon at the Palumbo Center. Senior Rodney Green had 27 points and nine rebounds for the Explorers, who were playing their first game without the injured Yves Mekongo. Duquesne's Bill Clark scored a career-best 34 points off the bench.

"It was definitely a tale of two halves," head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "Give Duquesne a lot of credit for stepping up and beating us in the second half."

It was announced before the game that Mekongo would be out two to four weeks after having surgery to repair a fractured pinky finger on his left hand. The loss, combined with injuries to classmates Ruben Guillandeaux and Kimmani Barrett, left Giannini with just seven scholarship players at his disposal, four of which were freshmen.

A frantic early pace gave the Explorers plenty of easy baskets after breaking the Dukes full-court press. La Salle took advantage and led by seven with 12:09 to play before Green joined Aaric Murray on the bench with two fouls.

But it was a lineup of freshmen Devon White, Parrish Grant and T.T. Carey and juniors Steve Weingarten and Jerrell Williams that extended the advantage to as many as 41-27 with 7:41 to play.

Duquesne (13-12, 4-7 A-10) backed off the full-court press, but applied suffocating defense in the form of a mixture of half-court 1-3-1 and man-to-mane. The switch paid off as the hosts went on a 22-8 run to finish the first half and tie the score at 49-49.

La Salle hung around after intermission but a 15-1 run by the Dukes midway through the half turned it into a runaway.

Green fought hard for his 27 points, moving him past Doug Overton into 11th on the all-time scoring list with 1,803 points. He needs five to pass Ralph Lewis into tenth place and nine to pass Randy Woods into ninth.

Murray had 13 points, nine in the second half, and Weingarten had a career-high 13 points. Williams added ten.

Melquan Bolding came off the bench to score 24, while Damian Saunders had 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Next up for the Explorers (11-13, 3-7 A-10) is a trip to Dayton on Thursday. The game will tip-off at 7 PM and be televised nationally on CBS College Sports.